Housing

Some lenders have asked whether the bureau would adjust its so-called resubmission guidelines — which determine whether lenders have to refile data based on errors found in samples — and it has responded with a request for further industry input.

Banks can help ease a severe national shortage in affordable rental properties — and make money doing it.

Officials who assess how well banks lend and invest in their communities seem out of sync with the experiences of Main Street.

Some lost their jobs while others made major missteps or faced serious challenges to their business plans. Here are the folks who had a rough 2015 and are looking forward to better times in 2016.

A proposal issued two weeks ago by the FHFA calls on the two government-sponsored enterprises to identify opportunities to increase their purchases of small multifamily properties in rural areas, sparking some concern among lenders.

The more aggressive nonbank lenders are attracting top producers by essentially allowing loan officers to set their own rate of pay. While so-called "pick-a-pay" compensation plans are not illegal, critics say they can encourage loan officers to steer consumers into more expensive loans in order to increase their own pay.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are telling lenders that they are willing to retain loans with defects if they believe the defects are minor and can be fixed. But Freddie is one-upping Fannie by offering to retain such loans without charging lenders a fee.

Existing-home sales plummeted in November, confirming fears in the mortgage industry that a new consumer disclosure rule is delaying mortgage closings.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is giving private mortgage insurers some hope this holiday season that they might get a change to offer deeper mortgage insurance on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac single-family loans.

Some mortgage investors are refusing to buy home loans that are at risk of violations of new consumer-disclosure rules. The problem appears to be worst among nonagency jumbo loans purchased by private investors.

Multifamily properties are getting pricy and new construction is putting upward pressure on vacancy rates, worrying banking regulators.

Freddie Mac will begin issuing single-family mortgage-backed securities sometime next year via the new common securitization platform, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said Thursday.

Sen. Bob Corker championed a provision he added to the budget bill that would temporarily prevent the Treasury Department from recapitalizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and discussed other banking priorities in a sitdown interview with American Banker.

Now is not the time for the Federal Housing Administration — which has stayed strong amid turmoil — to reduce its market share.

Bank officials say they are ready for rising rates; disagree on how much the initial increase would help or hurt lending and the economy; and predict more rate increases next year.

The agency released a plan Tuesday that would provide incentives for owners of manufactured housing communities to reform their practices if they want to tap financing by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Fannie Mae is offering yet another carrot to lenders that have lobbied extensively for relief from loan repurchases.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency unveiled a new proposal Tuesday that would detail how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should serve three underserved markets: manufactured housing, affordable housing preservation and rural markets.

WASHINGTON — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be able to evaluate and use new credit scoring models under a bill introduced in the House that seeks to create more competition in the credit scoring industry.

Eileen Serra, 61, the chief executive of the Chase Card Services unit, will step down in January and become an adviser to the company on growth initiatives, according to a memo Wednesday from Gordon Smith, JPMorgan's CEO of consumer and community banking.